She was a powerful force in the ’90s. One of the best singers of her time.

Still, prayers go to her and her loved ones. May she finally find the peace everyone so fervently seeks.

(To think I actually avoided Facebook for the longest time, thinking it’s a time waster. I still do think it’s a time waster up to a point, but I’ve since signed up and learned its value over time.)

My friend told me she first kept rebutting the person’s comments. But…the person just kept hitting back.

Eventually she just deleted the person’s comments (and the topic she started on her page) as well as blocked that him/her out. That ended it.

At least, it seemingly ended it for a time. A few days after she posted another topic in her Facebook wall, someone else started attacking her publicly.

Again, she argued against the person. Again, she later deleted the person’s comments and blocked him/her out also.

Hopefully that’s that. But it must have really bothered her to finally tell me about it.

She said she also told some of her friends about it as well. All of them gave well-meaning advice, but she felt what they told her wasn’t enough or wasn’t satisfying.

I then asked her to think back if there was something done that might have “helped” or contributed to that. I deliberately asked her that way to not make it sound like I’m accusing her of something.

She later blushed and admitted that her arguing with that person could’ve started the exchange. She also said it – for a time – actually felt good because she was fighting back.

I reassured her that that was okay because we all feel the tendency to want to fight back at someone who offended us, especially if it was for little to no valid reason at all. Then I asked her if there was something any different with the second person who attacked her.

She thought for a moment, then answered that she eventually just deleted the attacker’s comments and blocked him/her off after a much-shorter exchange than the previous one. I asked her what made her think that, and she replied she felt it was time to ignore that person.

And from there, I pounced on that. I asked her if she can do that next time it happens, then she nodded, smiled and thanked me for hearing her out.

Now, I’m not active in Facebook as much as everyone else around and before me. However, I’ve been active online for a number of years, especially taking part in online discussion forums.

I myself have experienced being “attacked” by other people, especially those who seemed just too argumentative no matter how much you rebut them. Such people are usually called “trolls”.

In the Internet sense, Wikipedia defines trolls as the following:

a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

Think of the troll as a sort of an online bully. Like any bully, they mainly keep pushing people around especially to get attention.

Unlike the actual bullies we used to face in school, though, taking on them head-on doesn’t always work. This is because online, they feel anonymous and invincible, and don’t have to worry about being caught. (which many of them aren’t, sad to say…)

OTOH, one tried and tested “advice” on dealing with bullies also tends to work online. And that is simply…

The reason for that is simple: trolls especially thrive on attention. Denying them that can cause them to make themselves look worse than they already are until they gradually get tired.

Like everybody, our attention on something or someone will (mostly) last only for so long. Eventually, someone’s going to get tired or bored, then just move on to something else.

Also, doing this can let the troll know what they’re really up to, or that people are on to their little “game” and later not play along anymore. Again, they’ll eventually just move along and give up their bullying or trolling.

I know that’s easier said than done, though. Like I said, we all tend to feel like fighting back.

I must admit, it can feel good fighting back against a troll and looking victorious if s/he especially doesn’t reply anymore. If you’re not careful, though, you might actually end up looking bad yourself.

This might also seem weird, but I notice that not too many people also like those who look and give the feeling of superiority; that they feel better than others, especially the trolls who started making them virtually look bad as well.

You might…might…be able to pull that off and get away with it if you really, truly know what you’re doing, especially if you’ve established yourself as some kind of expert on a field you and the troll argued about. I think you can do that if you’re able to argue or debate something without necessarily hitting the other person’s character (ad hominem attack) itself, but only if your position is mainly and mostly defensible.

Now, just because some people argue against you doesn’t always mean what they say has no merit. Some people might seem trollish or argumentative, but they also usually have something useful to say that might make sense if you give it some thought.

Finally, if it can be helped…

When I asked my friend how come she didn’t fight the second person as much as the first, she admitted she later felt it was pointless and that the attacks no longer affected her; that she felt what the person said wasn’t true anyway, so she found it easier to just block that person out.

I smiled and suggested she keep that in mind next time she encounters that again; that if she felt someone was being a troll or bully without saying anything true or substantial, she can just delete the person’s comments, not reply and totally block him/her out without giving a second thought.

After all, she has no obligations to anyone as far as I know except those she felt she has to. What more a bully?

One more thing: as defined in Wikipedia, trolls also tend to say really nasty things just to stir things up. Ignore them as well rather than angrily replying and rebutting them.

I read of a recent example involving one “Ahcee Flores” who wished a tsunami would wipe out the people in the Visayas. We had a recent earthquake in Negros where some people were killed, others injured and rendered homeless, and vast property damaged.

Honestly I was first tempted to join the fray. But I decided otherwise, thinking it’s not worth my time.

For all I know, the name is just an alias. Whoever said that must’ve gotten a really good (and maybe perverse) laugh at all the hoopla, and I hope that person doesn’t get anything bad coming in kind. (though I won’t be surprised if that happens…)

I eventually found a Yahoo! News article also on the subject. Similar to what I said here, the author suggested primarily ignoring or “not feeding” the troll at all.

The author also added to tell friends not to reply to the troll either, and just block them out. Social network sites like Facebook and Twitter give you certain tools to let you delete their comments and permanently block them out from your section or so.

At any rate, trolls and bullies exist online like every where else. Fortunately, we don’t have to do anything to or for them other than just ignore their attention-seeking ways and move along to more positive ventures.

I wish everyone well, including my friend.

(Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to an online forum where I’m a moderator to kick out some trolls…)

Source: Wikipedia – Troll, Wikipedia – Ad Hominem, Yahoo News – Ahcee Flores

Edit: It seems Ahcee Flores is real, after all, especially in Twitter. Oh well…

Anyway, it was brought to my attention somewhere that Coca Cola created a YouTube commercial featuring three Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) themselves. The commercial showed their stories, then how Coca Cola reunited them with their families.

As the commercial indicated, over 11 million Filipinos (sadly) leave their families behind for better opportunities abroad. Many return after a few years, sacrificing their family bonding time for better lives in the long run.

Someone at Coca Cola (or their advertising firm) came up with this brilliant idea of showing and granting three OFWs their chance to come back home at no-cost to them. In turn, Coca Cola also advertised themselves.

Rather funnily (or sadly), I’ve seen people actually scold Coca Cola for creating this commercial. I get their reasoning that Coca Cola “should’ve” made this without any commercial intent at all.

The way I see it, why not do both? Those three OFWs win, Coca Cola wins, everyone involved is happy.

I think we’re going to see more of these kinds of commercials. At least these aren’t necessarily your shove-it-in-your face ones.

Kudos to Coca Cola! Oh, and here’s the video:

It's More Fun In The Philippines!

They got some a lofty goal, about 3 or 4 million more tourists or similar by this year. Seems tough, but someone’s got to start somewhere. Might as well start big, too.

To be expected, I’ve seen lots of people online talking about it and especially criticizing the slogan. Someone pointed out that it’s the same as a 1951 Switzerland slogan: it’s more fun in Switzerland.

I guess their main, consistent complaint is lack of originality. On that, they’re arguably right.

As DOT eventually commented, they didn’t know about that until it was pointed out to them. But I agree with them that the phrase “it’s more fun” is common and isn’t exclusive to anybody anywhere.

What especially caught my attention was the DOT Secretary’s pointing out that the slogan essentially “captures” the feeling one can have when visiting the Philippines, especially the “fun” scenic spots like waterboarding in Camarines Sur and our world-reknowned beach of Boracay. They’re also mainly targetting foreigners.

That makes sense. Although I’m no advertising or marketing expert, I’ve since learned that any compaign like that is made to target or cater to somebody or a specific group’s interests.

I think this campaign will work. If anything, many people are seemingly criticizing the “form” rather than the “substance” of the campaign slogan.

Sigh, it’s a sign of one of our long-time nasty traits or habits: the crab-pulling mentality. Anytime someone is bound to be successful, others try to pull you down.

If you think about it, any country around the world has its own share of bad things. Their tourism slogans aim to emphasize the positive rather than the negative.

Personally, though, I think the slogan can be simpler like “Fun Philippines!” or even “Smiling Philippines!”. The latter will especially capture the Filipino penchant for smiling, even during realistically harsh times.

I’d say let’s give this campaign a chance. The DOT people, after all, are charged with promoting the country and boosting tourism, so at least they’re doing their function as expected.
The rest – like security and accessibility – are up to the other agencies designated to handle them. Time for them to do their part as well and step up!

At any rate, I wish our DOT well and hope this indeed works out.

The news then reported that some domestic and international flights were canceled due to smog, smog especially caused by all the smoke from exploding firecrackers last New Year’s eve. Sigh, how embarrassing.

Personally, I have no problem with that. I imagine others will, of course, especially those who enjoy it.

I’d say limit the sale of firecrackers to private entities for “personal purposes” only, namely to light them and not resell them to individuals. Many malls around here do such especially and exclusively to greet New Years like recently.

Surely, firecracker businesses will object to that since it’ll affect their bottom line. They may not make as much as they probably used to, but they can still make money selling only to “materially responsible” groups.

And of course, turning it into law and especially enforcing it will be difficult. I wish political will is sufficient, though political will can only do much if many people are especially stubborn about it.

Anyway, just thinking aloud.

Then to those celebrating this including me…Merry Christmas!

Peace and goodwill to all.

I liked it a lot. So I went online to try to find it.

I checked YouTube to give me some clues. It gave me some choices, and I had to go through each one.

Eventually I found the version. It was sung by Bob Seger.

The one I found, though, was quite cool. It featured a house with Christmas/Xmas lights playing to the tune of the song!

It turns out the one who made it did a few more for other Christmas/Xmas songs. Just check it on his video page.

I’ve enclosed one below, featuring the Little Drummer Boy song. Enjoy!

As explained by Abe Olandres in YugaTech:

This was due to the shortage of units coming in from flooded Thailand where most of the components come from

…

One of the most heavily affected is Western Digital and Seagate where majority of HDD production ands assembly are done in Thailand.

Abe’s contact says to expect this to last until March 2012. Ouch.

So if you’re looking to buy that new hard disk drive (HDD) you’re eyeing, you might want to hold that until then. I definitely am, even though the impatience can figuratively kill me sometimes.

Not unless money’s no object for you.

Hat tip: YugaTech

As the headline goes, Michael Bay has been tapped to make yet another Transformers movie. I linked the article at the bottom of this post.

As quoted from there:

Michael Bay agrees to return for “Transformers 4″, debunking rumours that the trilogy was the end of the alien robot franchise, according to a report on Movies Online.

Not really sure what to feel about that. On one hand, I’m glad there’ll be another Transformers movie, being a long time fan.

OTOH, I didn’t really like the last one. It felt more action than story, but I guess that’s what he intended to do given the feedback he got from Transformers 2.

Ah well, one thing’s for sure: everyone’s going to want to watch it!

Hat tip: Yahoo! News